Jessica Tisch staying on as NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's police commissioner
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch has agreed to stay on as Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's choice to lead the NYPD, the pair announced Wednesday morning.
"I look forward to working with Commissioner Jessica Tisch to deliver genuine public safety in New York City. I have admired her work cracking down on corruption in the upper echelons of the police department, driving down crime in New York City, and standing up for New Yorkers in the face of authoritarianism," Mamdani said in their joint statement. "Together, we will deliver a city where rank-and-file police officers and the communities they serve alike are safe, represented, and proud to call New York their home."
The announcement follows much speculation about whether or not Tisch would remain in the role under the new administration -- something Mamdani had called for during the debates leading up to Election Day.
Both Mamdani and Tisch noted tackling corruption within the department will be part of their mission.
They made a brief public appearance together Wednesday morning at the New York City Police Memorial in Lower Manhattan, where Tisch was asked to address some of their differences.
"Right now, we're here to visit the memorial and honor the legacy of service that so many of our officers have left, and I am sure there will be plenty of time to discuss all of that, but I really want to leave politics out of today's discussion," she replied.
While she and the mayor-elect may have different views on how to best secure the city, Tisch pledged in a letter to members of the department that she will always have their backs and she believes "deeply in the nobility" of their work.
"I appreciate that the mayor-elect wants a team with different points of view -- a team where ideas and policies are debated on their merits. In those discussions, you can trust that I will be a fierce advocate for you and for this department," the commissioner wrote. "You know how I operate: I don't mince words. When I say something, I mean it. And that is not going to change."
Potential points of conflict include Mamdani's desire to disband the Strategic Response Group, which polices protests and responds to terrorism threats, and stop the use of the gang database. He also wants to relieve the NYPD of responsibilities for dealing with individuals experiencing homelessness and responding to some emergency calls, such as mental health crises.
What to know about NYPD Commissioner Tisch
Tisch served as the city's Department of Sanitation Commissioner before Mayor Eric Adams named her the second female police commissioner in the department's history and the fourth police commissioner of his tenure.
She earned her undergraduate, law and business degrees from Harvard University, and she previously served as the NYPD's deputy commissioner of information technology, overseeing 911 operations and managing the implementation of body-worn cameras.
"Thanks to the men and women of the NYPD, the strategies we deployed this year have delivered historic reductions in crime," Tisch said in Wednesday's statement. "I've spoken to Mayor-elect Mamdani several times, and I'm ready to serve with honor as his police commissioner. That's because he and I share many of the same public safety goals for New York City: lowering crime, making communities safer, rooting out corruption, and giving our officers the tools, support, and resources they need to carry out their noble work."
All three of the mayoral candidates -- Mamdani and his opponents, Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa -- had agreed Tisch should remain at the helm.
Gov. Kathy Hochul posted about Wednesday's announcement on social media, writing in part, "Tisch has been a steadfast partner in driving crime down to historic lows and improving public safety across the city."
At an unrelated appearance, she added, "I think this ... has a calming effect on this community, and that's important. And I believe that she will do what it takes to do the trajectory we're on, which is crime is down."
Adams also applauded the decision, pointing to decreased crime rates and thousands of illegal guns taken off the streets.
"Commissioner Tisch, like her predecessors before her, has continued that stellar work and is implementing the policies and initiatives the Adams administration has pushed for four years. She was a star at the Sanitation Department and has done incredible work at the NYPD," the mayor said, in part. "In choosing her to stay on as police commissioner, Mayor-elect Mamdani is recognizing our public-safety efforts were right and that they will continue into the future."
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry was asked to comment on the appointment at an unrelated event Wednesday morning and called it "a good step forward."
"Stability is very, very important to New York City police officers. Commissioner Tisch understands what New York City police officers are going through on a daily basis. We have worked together to accomplish trying to fix those issues that are going on, and we are truly happy that she's staying on as police commissioner," Hendry said.
He added, "Commissioner Tisch is the right person at the right time to continue to keep this police department on a steady path."
Mayor-elect Mamdani's plan for the NYPD
Mamdani's public safety plan includes creating a $1 billion Department of Community Safety made up of mental health workers who would respond, before NYPD officers, to certain situations involving emotionally disturbed individuals.
The mayor-elect has also said he believes the police department's current headcount is "appropriate," saying his plan will help keep officers focused on the job they signed up to do, like responding to shootings and other serious crimes.
"It's untenable for officers to be asked to respond to the 200,000 mental health calls they receive every year, to be tasked with the responsibility of taking on the mental health crisis, the homelessness crisis," Mamdani told reporters Wednesday morning. "The commissioner and I share a belief in the fact that in order for police officers to be able to do their jobs, we also need to create the Department of Community Safety to be tasked with those responsibilities."
He added, "When we look at the fact that officers had a response time of less than 11 minutes in 2020, [and] today it's closer to 16. A lot of that has to do with the fact that so many of these responsibilities continue only to increase. It's time to make sure police officers can do policing and that we have a Department of Community Safety that can take on these other issues."
Over the course of the campaign, Mamdani faced criticism for past comments about the NYPD. Ahead of the first debate, he apologized to officers in a Fox News interview.
"Absolutely I'll apologize to police officers right here. Because this is the apology that I've been sharing with many rank-and-file officers. And I apologize because of the fact that I'm looking to work with these officers, and I know that these officers, these men and women who serve in the NYPD, they put their lives on the line every single day," Mamdani said at the time.
"It's an olive branch to the police, telling them, I recognize that I've said some crazy things, and I know that I've offended a whole lot of you, but I know that you really appreciate your commissioner and I want her to stay," political expert J.C. Polanco said.
Some of Mamdani's supporters were upset by the move, however,
The executive director of the Justice Committee, a grassroots group against police violence, called it "a rebuff of his promises to New Yorkers and a disturbing endorsement of NYPD's ongoing violence a corruption."
Tisch is the latest addition to Mamdani's administration, joining Dean Fuleihan as his first deputy mayor and Elle Bisgaard-Church as his chief of staff.
"It's an olive branch to the police, telling them, 'I recognize that I've said some crazy things, and I know that I've offended a whole lot of you, but I know that you really appreciate your commissioner and I want her to stay,'" explained political expert J.C. Polanco. "She'll allow for some sort of continuity."
As Mamdani's transition team continues to take shape, it is asking supporters to help raise $4 million for expenses.